Why did you go out [to the desert]? To see a prophet? Yes, I should say [he was], and much more than a prophet.
Yes, you [my] child [i.e., John], will be called the prophet of the Highest [i.e., God], for you will go ahead of the Lord’s presence to prepare His ways.
Now Herod wanted to have him put to death, [but hesitated], fearing the crowd, because they considered John to be a prophet.
What did you expect to see? A man dressed in fancy clothes? Look, people who wear fancy clothes live in kings’ palaces.
But if we say ‘from men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.”